Is President Obama a racist?

What would you think of evidence that suggested Barack Obama is a racist? And what if that evidence indicated his prejudice wasn’t against white people but against blacks? And what if that evidence were supplied by Rev. Kojo Nantambu, President of the Charlotte (NC) NAACP?

Nantambu recently declared Charlotte a bastion of racism and called on parents to hold their children out of school on Martin Luther King Day. According to Kojo, the black community is “appalled and incensed” with the school system’s “disdain and disrespect” toward them. What so upset Kojo and the NAACP?

MLK Day is a scheduled school holiday. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools held class anyway, needing to make up for snow related closures the week prior. Said one parent who honored the boycott, “I think he (King) would have wanted all of us to protest today. I think this injustice (sic).” Attendance was down on MLK Day and about 100 people shouting “No justice, no peace” marched in uptown Charlotte.

Perhaps, by now, you’re wondering how Kojo’s diatribe paints America’s first black President as hostile to black equality? Take a guess where Obama observed MLK Day. If you answered, “At a school,” take a gold star. Not only did Obama visit Stuart Hobson Middle School in the nation’s capital, he took Michelle and his two daughters with him.

Apparently the President isn’t alone in his “disdain and disrespect” for black Americans. Stuart Hobson is an 86-percent black school in an 87-percent black school district. Should we then conclude that Stuart Hobson students, parents, and the predominately black community are racist against themselves?

In all honesty, MLK Day is a holiday at Stuart Hobson and those who attended school, Obama included, were participating in volunteer projects. But sometimes the absurd is best illustrated by absurdity. This is one of those times.

Just as there was no racism on the part of the Stuart Hobson community or the Obamas in participating in school centered functions on MLK Day, there was no racism involved in the Char-Meck decision to hold class. President’s Day is also a designated Char-Meck make-up day. What’s more, President’s Day isn’t even a school holiday; it just happened to fall on a teacher work day. Memorial Day, too, is a snow make-up day. Charlotte schools will also hold regular class schedules on Lincoln’s, Washington’s and Jefferson’s birthdays. Now, explain to me how MLK Day has been singled out or disrespected due to racism?

Equally incredible is Kojo’s charge that Charlotte is a hotbed of racism. Charlotte-Mecklenburg is 64-percent white. Yet that racist, white population elected a black mayor and black mayor pro tem. Black residents are well-represented on the city council, county commission and school board, too. Oh, and Charlotte employs a black police chief.

Kojo’s outrage may earn him 15 minutes of fame. But beyond that it’s utterly nonsensical. Does anyone think Dr. King would want his legacy honored by keeping black children out of school when one of the changes he sought was greater educational opportunities for black children? Isn’t it more logical to commemorate King’s life by attending classes instead of cutting them? I doubt King would feel honored when kids waste his day rather than seizing its opportunities.

Kojo Nantambu’s racism charges have nothing to do with genuine discrimination. He’s exploiting racism to increase his social standing and relevance. Kojo, and those like him, conveniently find Klansmen around every corner. Yet who demagogues the problems facing black communities--illegitimacy, educational failure, drugs, gangs--while offering no viable solutions? He should recognize these problems as matters of personal behavior, not conditions imposed through systemic racism.

Kojo has manipulated a non-issue and found racism where none exists. He did so for purely selfish reasons. It’s a repugnant tactic that everyone should repudiate regardless of their race, color, or creed.